That's what Donte Johnson, a junior at McDonogh
High School in New Orleans said after a classmate was killed in the school's
gym last week. "Nobody wants to be in there after what happened" he added.

While Donte was more than likely referring to the
pool of blood and the dead body, I see some other spooky elements to this
latest shooting.

For instance, no one's calling it what it was- a
gang-related payback killing. No media accounts decry the black on black
crime that's gotten so completely out of control.

"It's despicable that the (anti-gun crowd) is trying
to give their ...agenda a boost by portraying criminal gang members as
innocent school children" says Maria Heil, national spokesperson for the
Second Amendment Sisters.

Instead of focusing on the fact that the dead kid,
15 year old Jonathan Williams was also carrying a gun when he was shot
(so much for the school's metal detectors) news reports zero in on the
incident as yet another "school" shooting. Like these misguided thugs
wouldn't have offed each other at a drive-in? No, the reason they did
it in a school is because schools are guaranteed to be undefended and
unprotected because of all the laws that were passed to "protect" us from
school shootings. This shooting has also become the poster-crime for renewing
the Assault Weapons Ban which is, "coincidentally," set to expire soon.
Hence, the usual suspects in the anti-gun crowd are using this crime as
a rallying cry for more and improved gun control laws.

Heil adds "(They're) making it sound as though assault
weapons have been used in all the "school" shootings."

I just can't quite wrap my mind around yet another
shooting that appears to come at a time when the anti-gunners need to
make a particular point. Just as the DC sniper shootings served as the
perfect ammunition for a national ballistics database, this shooting happened
just as discussion began on re-upping the Assault Weapons Ban. These are
no coincidences. Trot Out The Mommies.

In addition to Schumer and Feinstein and the "conservative,
gun-friendly" president Bush, who are calling for a renewing of the ban,
the Mostly Myopic Mommies are jumping on this shooting, making it a cause
celebre for strict, anti- Constitutional gun laws that don't do anything
but hurt the good guys.

"Only in America", says the president of the N.J.
State Council of the Million Mom March, Carole Stiller. "The US is the
only developed country where such overwhelming firepower is available
to the general public". Well, Carole, in places where firepower isn't
available, people kill each other with other tools, like knives and machetes.

Another recent "school" shooting at Louisiana Technical
College in Nachtitoches had 'em calling for stricter gun laws, as well.
Another kid who'd been gunned down in gang-like retaliation, another black
on black crime no one wanted to comment on. Again, it was a "school" shooting,
where the shooter used a "semiautomatic handgun." Specifics are lost on
the media except when it comes to describing what kind of gun was used,
it seems.

As if on cue, along comes a Louisiana politican
who swears he doesn't want to use the shootings to "pander to the public"
about his new and improved gun control bill, but that's exactly what he's
done.

Louisiana state law says you can't take guns to
school. So apparently since THAT law didn't do the trick it's time to
"strengthen" it. Democrat Rick Gallot has introduced a NEW bill to add
teeth to the old one, and it says THE VERY SAME THING: it's illegal to
take guns to school. Will the insanity ever end?

Just to sum up: The first law didn't work, so now
let's pass another law that won't work. And should you tire of this Kafkaesque
scene playing out on our national stage, you can always watch the "documentary"
Bowling For Columbine, by that grand American filmmaker- social commentator
Michael Moore.

Moore won an Oscar for Best Documentary. Only thing
is, this work can hardly be classified as such. Better termed a work of
fiction, the film should never have been classified a doc. It contains
staged scenes( a no-no), made-up events (ditto) and bogus "facts". All
the better to add fuel to the anti-gun sentiment in this country. And
most Americans don't have a clue.

Mary Starrett was on television for 21 years
as a news anchor, morning talk show host and medical reporter. For the
last 5 years she hosted a radio program. Mary is a frequent guest on radio
talk shows. E-Mail M123STAR@aol.com�